The Bush administration will host a conference next week to discuss the recent string of school violence across the country, the White House said Monday.

Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said the conference will bring together education and law enforcement officials to talk about the nature of the problem and federal action that can help communities prevent violence and deal with its aftermath.

Three schools have been hit by deadly attacks in the past week.

“The president is deeply saddened and troubled by the recent school violence and shootings that have taken place in different communities across America,” Perino said. “It breaks America’s collective heart when innocent children who are at school to learn are violently taken hostage and cut down in their own schools.”

Perino said the conference was still in the planning stages, so a specific date, location and other details were not ready to be announced. It was not clear whether President Bush would attend.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Bush’s domestic policy adviser, Karl Zinsmeister, met Monday at the White House to discuss the conference.Perino said participants on the education side would include groups such as the National Parent Teacher Association, school principals and teachers’ unions. The Federal Bureau of Investigations would be among those representing law enforcement, she said.